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The UK’s Orange and T-Mobile brands could be killed off

According to The Times [paywalled link], Everything Everywhere, the UK telecoms umbrella company for Orange and T-Mobile, is nearly ready to ditch their separate brands for something more suited to their integration.

The British paper says that a new name is not likely to be revealed until later in 2012 and that the move would, “reap tens of millions of pounds a year in savings for the company’s owners, France Télécom and Deutsche Telekom.”

The networks merged in 2010 and much has been made of the speculation as to which brand would take centre stage for the union. The loss of either brand could be a risk, as The Times notes, the initial introduction of the Orange brand to the UK was “credited as being one of the most successful brand launches of all time”.

The initial clues picked up by The Times came from a prospectus related to a bond issue. It is quoted to say, “The development of an additional or new brand by the group is an option under consideration, which may be complementary to or in substitution of one or both of the existing brands of T-Mobile and Orange.”

According to PC Pro, “a spokesperson for Everything Everywhere said the prospectus merely listed possibilities for the firm, saying it actually decided last October what branding changes it will make – but isn’t sharing those plans yet”.

It’s not a big surprise that Everything Everywhere should choose to consolidate its network brand. Combining the two has cost enough in customer and public relations. Though a clear plan in the UK could improve its overseas relations after only just announcing its partnership with China Telecom.

So how should the combination be best reflected while serving customer loyalty, acknowledging the separate work done with the original brands and looking forward for Everything Everywhere?

The company can only hope that a launch to end the older brands would be as successful as Orange’s first appearance was back in the 1990s.